Brenda is a native North Dakotan and very pleased to be involved in the world of education through the NDSU Extension Service in Ramsey County. Her family and friends can make life interesting at times but there is always an opportunity for
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Brenda is a native North Dakotan and very pleased to be involved in the world of education through the NDSU Extension Service in Ramsey County. Her family and friends can make life interesting at times but there is always an opportunity for learning along the way.

This posting will mark the beginning of my experience as a blogger. For the past 25 plus years news releases, news columns, news stories, news releases, captions for photos (mostly of 4-H members), radio recordings, radio interviews, newsletters and letters to individuals have rolled off my desk and onto the wings of the media. Email as a regular means of communication for individuals and families arrived on the scene about 15 yearsago and now email blasts to list serves often replace printed newsletters.
Communication is a hallmark of the NDSU Extension Service. "Taking the university to the people" is a phrase used to describe the extesnion service in many states. At one time, Extension Specialists from Fargo, loaded themselves and their wares on trains and travled across ND to present info on agriculture, nutriton, raising chickens, raising children and raising hopes in the dark depression days of the 1930's. Theywer gone for weeks at a time as the train chugged its wayfrom small town to smal town. At eachstop, the boxcars were parked on a sideline track and local residents gatered to observe the demonstration method of communication. One group of presenters stopped in Crary and local residents were thrilled to learn how to make their own mattresses. Somewhere in the extension archives is a photo of a model-T driving off iwth a mattress tied to its top.
Blogging exists due tot he technology of the Internet but it reminds me more of a letter than it does of a text or tweet. Anybody remember writing letters? When I was in college (before cell phones, emails or cheap long distance plans) my grandmother wrote me a letter every week. What a thrill to see an envelope in yhour mailbox at the dorm! Letters from home were viewed as community property and any info of "life back home" was shared with friends and then carried around in coat pockets as a tangible remeinder of those who were thinking of you.
So a toast to a New Year and another form of communication! I wonder if 100 years from now, the 2113 resdients of ND will view blogging as slow as we envisiton those extension trains were?